An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : Media : News
NEWS | Feb. 26, 2018

NSWC Crane, Purdue University Aim to Improve Safety and Performance of Lithium-Ion Batteries Through New CRADA

By NSWC Crane Corporate Communications

CRANE, Ind. – Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) has entered into a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Purdue University. The purpose of this CRADA is to align modeling efforts at Purdue with testing capabilities at NSWC Crane to achieve the common goal of improving the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries.

“I see this as a great opportunity to combine complementary expertise to deliver a safer, lighter-weight energy storage capability with a longer-life cycle to the warfighter of the future,” said Kyle Crompton, NSWC Crane’s Principal Investigator. “Purdue has significant experience with electrochemical, thermal and fluid dynamics modeling related to lithium-ion batteries. NSWC Crane’s testing capabilities can be utilized to verify safer designs while our perspective on warfighter needs can help to guide modeling and design efforts.”

Improving the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries has been an on-going area of research for several years. Substantial focus has been placed on material development for electrode materials, but much less has targeted advanced designs, thermal runaway detection and mitigation, and theoretical understanding of internal and external processes of the battery.

"We are excited to engage with NSWC Crane through this newly formed CRADA. Our collaborative research activities will leverage the unique and complementary expertise of both institutions in energy storage systems,” Dr. Jason Ostanek (Purdue’s School of Engineering Technology) and Dr. Partha P. Mukherjee (Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering) said in a joint statement. “This partnership creates an opportunity for Purdue students and researchers to contribute to the mission critical stewardship of NSWC Crane." 

NSWC Crane's Technology Transfer (T2) Program helps link federal research and development to academic institutions and businesses in the private sector. A CRADA provides the formal mechanism between the federal laboratory and partner collaborator. The NSWC Crane T2 program has partnerships with more than 100 businesses, individuals and universities. Currently, there are 93 active CRADAs and 217 active agreements.

NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with focus areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. NSWC Crane is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s warfighter.